Can't find new Normal.dotm in Word 2007

[FJ]

Hi, I have kind of a weird problem. My normal template was accidentally
altered so I closed Word, renamed my normal.dotm file, and assumed that the
next time I opened Word a new normal.dotm would be created. It seems that it
was, since the accidental customizations in the old normal template are now
gone.

The problem is that I can't find the new normal.dotm anywhere. It doesn't
seem to be in the same folder as the old one I renamed. When I go to the
Office Button, click Open, and click on “Recently changedâ€, I can see a
shortcut to the normal.dotm along with a shortcut to the old normal.dotm, but
the actual file is not listed anywhere else. Can anyone tell me why I can’t
see the actual new normal.dotm? This might be a problem if I have to rename
it again in the future. I realize that there might be something really
obvious that I'm missing but right now I'm baffled. The old normal template
is located in: C:\MyName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates. Does this
sound right? I'm using Word 2007 with Windows Vista.

Thanks in advance for any information.

 

[FJ]

Hi, actually, I just thought of something: is it that a change has to be
made to the normal.dotm before it will appear in the templates folder? I've
never made a change to my normal template before so I'm not sure, but that's
the way it seems. Maybe that's the obvious thing I was missing. :}

If anyone can confirm this, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

For a time we thought that a new Normal.dot or Normal.dotm was not created
until there was a change, but I think perhaps it turned out to be the case
(at least for Normal.dot) that it was created on exiting the program after
the first use. But I could be wrong!

 

[Mecalith]

Using Word 2007 on Windows Vista Home Premium
When I delete the Normal.dotm file it reappears in the Template folder after
I exit Word.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

That seems to confirm my hunch. Thanks.

 

[FJ]

Hi, Suzanne, thanks for your response. I just experimented a little more and
it seems that in my case, the normal.dotm only appears in the template folder
when I make a change to it. I read Mecalith's post as well that says
normal.dotm appears after exiting, but that doesn't seem to be the case for
me. It seems as though I actually have to make a change to it first. Maybe
it's because I'm using Windows Vista Ultimate and Mecalith has Home Premium?
In any case it's very interesting.

 

[FJ]

Hi, Mecalith, thanks for your response. As I just posted in my response to
Suzanne, it seems that for me I have to actually have made a change to my
normal.dotm in order for it to appear in the templates folder. Just exiting
Word doesn't seem to do it. Maybe it's because I'm using Windows Vista
Ultimate, but I don't know.